- Bitcoin’s $80,000 Break Wipes Out $301 Million in Short Positions
Source: Binance
“Bitcoin’s break above $80,000 caught the crypto derivatives market badly positioned for the third time in recent weeks, triggering $370 million in total liquidations across 97,235 traders in 24 hours with short sellers absorbing the majority of the damage — a pattern that is beginning to look less like a series of isolated events and more like a structural feature of the current market. Bitcoin briefly tagged $80,594 in early Asian trading Monday — its highest print since January 31 — before pulling back to trade around $79,851 at time of writing. Of the $370 million in total liquidations, $301.93 million came from short positions, according to CoinGlass data, with shorts liquidated at roughly four times the rate of longs. Bitcoin alone accounted for $179 million of the wipeout, with Ether traders contributing $95 million.” (05/04/26)
- Cape Verde: Cruise ship at center of suspected deadly hantavirus outbreak refused permission to dock
Source: NBC News
“The cruise ship at the center of a deadly outbreak of hantavirus has been refused permission to dock, with 149 people still on board — two of them seriously ill. The virus is suspected to have killed three people and sickened three more, with one patient hospitalized in critical condition. … The remaining passengers, who are from 23 different countries, including 17 Americans, are required to follow strict precautionary measures, including isolation and medical monitoring, the cruise operator said. The west African nation of Cape Verde said it had decided not to let the cruise ship, the Hondius, dock at the port of Praia as a precautionary measure, Reuters reported. The cruise operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said in a statement Monday that the ship may sail from Cape Verde to Las Palmas or Tenerife in the Canary Islands and dock there.” (05/04/26)
- Iraq: Court sentences four to prison for promoting banned Baath Party
Source: ABC News
“An Iraqi court on Monday sentenced four people to six years in prison on charges of promoting the ideas of the banned Baath Party led by former leader Saddam Hussein. The Karkh Criminal Court said in a statement that those convicted were found in possession of the banned materials on their cellphones in Kirkuk province during 2025 and 2026. After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq toppled Saddam’s autocratic rule, the country implemented a broad de-Baathification policy aimed at removing the influence of the Baath Party from state institutions.” (05/04/26)
- Iran: Regime thugs kill three over January protests
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Iran[‘s regime has killed] three men charged in connection with political protests this January, authorities have said, the latest in a wave of hangings against the backdrop of the war against the US and Israel. Iranian authorities have carried out [killings] on a near-daily basis in recent weeks in what activists have denounced as a bid to instil fear in society at a time of international and domestic tension. Mehdi Rassouli, Mohammad Reza Miri and Ebrahim Dolatabadi, all considered political prisoners by human rights organisations, were [killed] after being convicted over unrest in the eastern city of Mashhad in January, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency announced on Monday.” (05/04/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/04/iran-executes-men-january-anti-regime-protests
- GameStop makes daring $56 billion bid for eBay, hoping to rival Amazon
Source: CNN
“GameStop has offered to buy ecommerce giant eBay for $55.5 billion, a tie-up that the video game retailer’s boss believes could produce a ‘legit competitor’ to Amazon. The offer comes amid something of a revival at eBay, which has pushed to reinvent itself in the face of rising competition from the likes of Walmart, Amazon, Shein and Facebook Marketplace. GameStop — which became a household name during the meme stock craze of 2021 — has offered $125 per share for eBay, half in cash and half in stock, the company announced Sunday. That represents a 46% premium to eBay’s closing share price on February 4, the day GameStop started building a 5% stake in the company.” (05/04/26)
- Rubio expected to meet with Pope Leo amid Trump’s clash with pontiff on Iran
Source: Washington Post
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio is slated to travel to Italy to meet with Pope Leo XIV this week, according to a senior Vatican official, marking the first high-ranking encounter between the pontiff and a top administration official since President Donald Trump issued withering criticism of the Chicago-born pope last month. The visit comes amid a deterioration in relations between the United States and the Vatican, as well as Italy, with observers viewing the trip as an attempt to patch up troubled ties. Rubio, a prominent Catholic in the administration, is expected to meet with Leo on Thursday, according to the Vatican official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a meeting that has not yet been made public.” (05/04/26)
- Austria: Regime expels Russian diplomats over alleged spying
Source: United Press International
“Authorities in Austria have expelled three members of the Russian embassy staff for suspected spying, Austria’s foreign minister said Monday. Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said the diplomats were suspected of using a ‘forest of antennae’ on the roof of the Russian embassy in Vienna to collect illicit data, The Guardian reported. The equipment was allegedly used to collect the data from organizations using satellite internet. … The three suspected spies have left the country, which has now expelled 14 Russian diplomats since 2020, The Guardian reported. Russian officials called this most recent decision ‘outrageous’ and ‘unjustified’ and promised retaliation.” (05/04/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2026/05/04/austria-russian-diplomats-expelled/7991777914676/
- Amazon opens up its logistics network to other businesses in growth push
Source: Reuters
“Amazon.com is opening the supply-chain network that has powered its operations for decades to other businesses, pitting it directly against logistics heavyweights such as UPS and FedEx. ‘Amazon Supply Chain Services’ will allow companies across industries such as retail, healthcare and manufacturing to use the tech giant’s freight network spanning ocean, road, rail and air to move, store and deliver everything from raw materials to final products. … With a fleet of more than 100 cargo planes — behind only FedEx and UPS — along with a vast network of warehouses and sorting hubs, Amazon’s move could make it a key logistics player and intensify competition on pricing and speed.” (05/04/26)
- DC: Judge limits tree cutting at golf course Trump aims to renovate
Source: ESPN
“A federal judge told the U.S. government Monday not to cut down more than 10 trees without first providing notice amid a legal dispute at a historic Washington golf course that President Donald Trump plans to renovate. U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes said during a remote hearing that she wasn’t going to issue a temporary restraining order just yet in the case brought by the DC Preservation League. She also told the National Park Service that it should first discuss any plans with government lawyers if it is going to cut down more than 10 trees. Monday’s hearing came after the plaintiff’s emergency petition seeking to stop work at the course, citing news reports that major renovations were to begin Monday.” (05/04/26)
- CA: Dem Establishment Accused of “Putting Thumb on the Scale” Against Progressive Candidate
Source: Common Dreams
“The Democratic Party’s congressional campaign arm faced backlash on Monday for boosting the more conservative US House candidate in California’s 22nd District, where two Democrats are vying to unseat GOP Rep. David Valadao. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has added Jasmeet Bains, a California State Assembly member, to its ‘Red to Blue’ program, which gives chosen candidates fundraising and organizational support as they seek to flip Republican seats. The DCCC’s decision to elevate Bains over Randy Villegas, an educator and political newcomer endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and major unions such as the United Auto Workers, was seen as the latest example of Democratic leaders seeking to thwart a progressive candidate with genuine grassroots momentum.” (05/04/26)
- France: Melenchon says he will run for president in 2027
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leading politician in France’s left-wing Unbowed party, says he will run in next year’s presidential election, setting up a potential showdown with centrist and right-wing rivals. ‘Yes, I am a candidate,’ the 74-year-old told TF1 TV on Sunday. It is Melenchon’s fourth presidential bid; he also ran in 2012, 2017 and 2022, when he came third behind far-right leader Marine Le Pen and French President Emmanuel Macron, who made it to the second round of voting. Melenchon has been growing his share of the vote with each campaign.” (05/04/26)
- Samsung family pays off record $8 billion inheritance tax demand
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The family behind the South Korean corporate giant Samsung has completed its payment of a 12 trillion won (£6bn; $8bn) inheritance tax bill, the largest such settlement in the country’s history. Chairman Lee Jae-yong and other members of the family, including his mother Hong Ra-hee and sisters Lee Boo-jin and Lee Seo-hyun, paid the sum in six installments over the last five years. The bill is tied to the estate left by the firm’s late chairman Lee Kun-hee, who died in October 2020. Samsung is South Korea’s biggest chaebol, or family-owned business, with operations spanning electronics, heavy industry, construction and financial services. Lee Kun-hee left a 26 trillion won fortune, including shares, property and art collections.” (05/04/26)
- Spokesperson: Giuliani hospitalized “in critical but stable condition”
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
“Rudolph Giuliani, the ex-mayor of New York City and a former adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, is in critical but stable condition at a hospital, his spokesperson said Sunday. Ted Goodman didn’t say what sent the 81-year-old to hospital or how long he’s been there. … Giuliani was hospitalized in September after suffering a fractured vertebra and other injuries in a car crash in New Hampshire.” (05/03/26)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/rudy-giuliani-hospitalized-9.7186315
- Revolutionaries without a Cause
Source: American Greatness
by Stephen Soukup“In the week-plus since the latest attempt on President Trump’s life, many on the Right and in the political Center are, at long last, waking up to the possibility that the political opposition today is not entirely normal. It’s not unprecedented either, but it’s far from what we have come to expect in the so-called ‘civilized’ world. As the polymath and public intellectual Eric Weinstein put it on Twitter/X, ‘These aren’t deranged liberals. They are normalized revolutionaries.’ By now, the story of how these revolutionaries came to be normalized is well-worn.” (05/04/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/05/04/revolutionaries-without-a-cause/
- Moving Past Gerrymandering
Source: ProSocial Libertarians
by Andrew Jason Cohen“All borders, including those of voting districts and nation-states, are legal constructs. Legal constructs serve a purpose, of course. That a country extends to the ocean tells us something, but without a legal ruling about how far into the ocean it controls, we risk repeated skirmishes at sea, for example. The same is true of voting districts. Should Joe’s vote count in district 2? Or one of the other 5? Should he be allowed to decide for himself? Perhaps he’d choose 2 because the polling place is closest to his home or his kids’ school. Perhaps he’d choose 3 because the polling place is closest to his office. Perhaps he’d vary by year. It’s apparently important to people — and is obviously important to the duopoly — that people only vote in set areas. Do you actually care about that? Is it really problematic to let people vote where they choose?” (05/04/26)
https://prosociallibertarians.substack.com/p/moving-past-gerrymandering
- Support Us Iran Midterms Justice War on Gaza Unmasking ICE Chilling Dissent About Support Us Trump’s Killing Spree Isn’t Stopping the Flow of Drugs Into the US
Source: The Intercept
by Nick Turse“The Pentagon claims that attacks on civilian boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific have severely curtailed the import of illegal drugs to the United States. And President Donald Trump says this has saved more than 1 million American lives. Experts call these assertions laughable and reporting by The Intercept shows that claims by the White House and War Department are baseless, phony, or both.” (05/04/26)
https://theintercept.com/2026/05/04/trump-boat-strikes-fentanyl-cocaine-drug-supply/
- A World in Trumple Deep (And We Are All His Apprentices Now)
Source: TomDispatch
by Tom Engelhardt“Unlike every other TomDispatch piece, this one won’t be broken up with section titles for a simple reason. It’s all about Donald J. Trump and when it comes to him, in this strange world of ours, no one ever really gets a break. In that context, here’s my advice to you: Don’t get old. For years, I managed not to do so, but unfortunately that’s all over now and I’m increasingly an old man. In fact, I’m not quite two years older than Donald J. Trump.” (05/03/26)
- Not All Leaks Are Created Equal
Source: The American Conservative
by Peter Van Buren“Anonymized political hits are a different beast from principled whistleblowing.” (05/04/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/not-all-leaks-are-created-equal/
- Washington’s Debt Party Is About to Crash Your Budget
Source: Town Hall
by Jay Rogers“Picture yourself at the kitchen table on a Saturday morning, coffee getting cold, sorting through the mail. Among the usual suspects (credit card statements, HOA notices, something from the DMV that is probably not good news), you find a bill you did not ask for. The federal government has quietly added a line item to your household tab: $18,000 a year. No vote. No debate. Just arithmetic catching up with decades of bipartisan borrowing without consequences. That is precisely what the Brookings Institution’s 2026 fiscal chart book shows is required to keep the debt-to-GDP ratio capped at its current level through 2036. Budget fellow Jessica Riedl calculates that stabilization demands an extra $2.6 trillion in annual revenue by that year. Spread across approximately 144 million American households, the arithmetic is brutal: roughly $18,000 per household, per year.” (05/04/26)
- Pay Day: Learn Who Cashed In When Trump Went to War
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Thomas Karat“The neocons got their war. The question every taxpayer and every voter who believed Trump’s promises should be asking is: who else got what they wanted? The answer is not difficult to find. It is sitting in earnings calls, stock filings, and futures trading records. Washington does not even bother to hide it anymore.” (05/04/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/pay-day-learn-who-cashed-in-when-trump-went-to-war
- Trump: American Gangster for Capitalism [sic]
Source: Foreign Policy In Focus
by Edward Hunt“Some lawmakers have grown so alarmed by the Trump administration’s actions in Latin America that they are beginning to accuse the administration of gangsterism. Representative Stephen Lynch (D-MA) saw the possibility of gangsterism at the start of the second Trump administration when he warned that the United States could ‘join the ranks of gangster nations,’ but there is a growing sense in Congress that the day has arrived. At a congressional hearing last month, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) asserted that the Trump administration is exploiting the US military to take Latin American resources for US corporations. Castro seemingly channeled the anti-war critiques of Smedley Butler, the US military hero of the early 20th century, who condemned war as a racket and lamented his exploitation as a racketeer for capitalism.” (05/04/26)
- AI Companies Learn the Word No
Source: Reason
by Katherine Mangu-Ward“One of the more encouraging developments in artificial intelligence is that some of the people building it have started acting like it might be dangerous. Not in the Skynet sense or the HAL 9000 sense or even the ‘oops, it deleted all my emails’ sense, though AI might be dangerous in all of those ways too. The question is whether the latest models are dangerous to infrastructure, dangerous to privacy, dangerous to security, and dangerous to the blurry line between public and private. For years, Big Tech has been heavy on the gas, light on the brakes — and we have all benefited tremendously, even as angry debates about the downsides have raged. But with AI, at least in a few notable cases, the companies themselves have begun doing something unusual. They have started saying no.” (for publication 06/26)
https://reason.com/2026/05/04/ai-companies-learn-the-word-no/
- When America Chose Empire
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by George Ford Smith“In 1901, on far-away Balangiga — a village in Eastern Samar of the Philippines — an American general gave an order that stripped away any notion of ‘civilizing’ or ‘Christianizing’ a foreign people: ‘Make it a howling wilderness.’ General Jacob H. Smith’s command — accompanied by the instruction to ‘kill everyone over ten’ — was not an aberration. It was consistent with a decision made only a few years earlier about America becoming one of the ‘great’ nations. The government would abandon its anti-imperial tradition and join the ranks of empire.” (05/04/26)
- From “Unconditional Surrender” to “Please Make a Deal”
Source: The Dispatch
by Mike Nelson“While we should not trust any public pronouncements made by the Iranians (nor should our government take private ones at face value either), the regime has effectively acted in keeping with the perception it wishes to create: Iran’s leaders are not impatient for negotiations, nor do they seem willing to make accommodations in advance of any, while simultaneously demanding preconditions from the United States. The only indications of Iranian eagerness to seek peaceful resolution come from Trump — who has a less than firm relationship with the truth — claiming that the Iranians have told him privately they are desperate to give in to each of our demands. That would strain credulity under any circumstances, but especially after the president has made many, many claims of Iranian surrender or concession over the course of the nine-week conflict, all of which have proven to be demonstrably false.” (05/04/26)
- Regulators risk destroying local TV by blocking key media merger
Source: Fox News
by Steve Forbes“The Nexstar-Tegna transaction is exactly the kind of pro-growth, common-sense deal Washington should applaud, not bury under a mountain of legal briefs, bureaucratic nostrums and political posturing. These two companies are major owners of local television stations. For years, America’s local broadcasters have been battered by forces far larger than any single station group: Big Tech, streaming behemoths, social-media platforms, cord-cutting, cable fragmentation and the steady siphoning of advertising dollars away from local outlets. The old world of three networks, a handful of hometown stations and a captive evening-news audience has long gone the way of the dinosaurs. Local television today is not operating in a sheltered village. It is competing in a global, fiercely competitive marketplace. That is why the Nexstar-Tegna deal matters.” (05/04/26)
- US quest for superweapons runs into reality
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Mark Thompson“For every successful dream of a new military technology that ends up working as advertised, there are 100 nightmares into which U.S. taxpayers are forced to pour money with little to show for it. The challenge, of course, is to pluck the winners from the losers before the billions have been spent.” (05/04/26)
- Why Socialism Fails
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Deborah Palma“In a complex economy with an advanced division of labor, individuals cannot rely solely on their own direct knowledge to decide how to allocate resources among many possible combinations. They require a common denominator that allows for the comparison of costs and benefits. This denominator is the price, which emerges from voluntary exchanges in the market. Prices are not arbitrary numbers; they are determined by exchange values arising from the competitive interaction between consumers and producers. Price reflects the relative scarcity of a good in relation to all other possible uses of the same factors of production. … Attempts to treat the economy as a system of simultaneous equations, in which equilibrium can be mathematically determined, ignore the dynamic nature of reality. The market is a continuous process of discovery, not a static state of rest.” (05/04/26)
- Corking the Front Door: Japan’s New Role in the Global Siege of China
Source: Antiwar.com
by Tina Antonis“The verbal barbs between Japan and China have been a distraction; the real story is Japan’s deepening military integration with the Philippines. As the U.S. and its allies move to seal the Luzon Strait, Japan is shedding its pacifist skin to serve as the regional arsenal, providing the hardware and the boots on the ground necessary to turn the Front Door of the South China Sea into a strategic bottleneck. It is the tactical manifestation of a new cold war focused on maritime choke points and the kinetic kneecapping of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.” (05/04/26)
- John Roberts Is George Wallace With a Harvard Law Degree
Source: Common Dreams
by Miles Mogulescu“George Wallace was sworn in as Governor of Alabama in 1963 and famously declared in his inauguration speech (written by a Ku Klux Klan leader) ‘segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.’ Two years later, Alabama state troopers violently broke up a nighttime voting rights march during which a police officer shot and killed young African American protester and Baptist deacon Jimmie Lee Jackson who was unarmed and protecting his mother. In response, civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King and John Lewis, organized a mass march from Selma to Montgomery over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in an attempt to deliver a civil rights and voting rights message to Gov. Wallace. It became known as ‘Bloody Sunday’ as state troopers gassed and beat the protestors, including fracturing Lewis’ skull and sending 57 others to the hospital.” [editor’s note: The delulu continues from these race-baiting “progressive” pundits – SAT] (05/04/26)
- The Freedom to Question: Graham Hancock, Lost Civilizations, and the Limits of Knowledge
Source: Students for Liberty
by Nikola Ilievski“Libertarians are not exclusively interested in libertarianism; rather, libertarianism functions as a living principle, a lens through which we examine social relations, institutions, and the boundaries of knowledge itself. It invites not only political analysis, but also a broader inquiry into how ideas are formed, challenged, and defended within society. In this sense, one of the grounding insights of libertarians and classical liberals concerns the nature and limits of knowledge and science, how we come to know what we know, and how institutions react when that knowledge is questioned. The case of Graham Hancock is particularly relevant here, as it illustrates both the potential gaps in scientific understanding and the often defensive attitudes of scientific establishments toward dissent.” (05/04/26)
- The Bureaucratization of Assisted Suicide
Source: Law & Liberty
by Héctor Cárdenes Roque“Across the West, the most final act a state can authorize is being routed through the least solemn of its institutions.” (05/04/26)
https://lawliberty.org/the-bureaucratization-of-assisted-suicide/
- A Few Words on May Day from a Radical Welfare Queen
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid“Mainstream shitlib hagiographers will tell you that FDR delivered us from the Fritz Langian sweatshops of the Gilded Ages on a silver platter. Don’t fucking believe it. The eight-hour workday and the five-day workweek are the bruised fruit of wildcatting anarchists and communists with guns, and the New Deal declawed them by federalizing the whole goddamn operation and turning thriving workplace democracies into corporate boards with labyrinthine bureaucracies and CEOs pulling down six figures without ever having to break a sweat.” (05/03/26)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/05/a-few-words-on-may-day-from-radical.html
- Dems seek blue-collar MAGA man to win back Trump voters, but need to look in the mirror
Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine“Democrats have a Nazi problem. They’ve spent the last 10 years accusing Donald Trump of being the second coming of Hitler and melting down when Elon Musk or anyone else perceived as close to Trump made a hand gesture that they pretended was a Nazi salute. It was all just a hilarious troll that fooled their more gullible acolytes. Now that Maine Gov. Janet Mills has pulled out of her Senate campaign, citing money problems, Democratic grandees are lining up to campaign for their anointed candidate, the ersatz Joe Six-Pack Graham Platner, who has an actual Nazi tattoo on his chest — or did for 18 years until he disguised it to campaign.” (05/03/26)
- The Era of Rational Discourse Is Over
Source: The Atlantic
by Adam Kirsch“Americans have a long history of being hurried into war on false pretexts. The ‘yellow press’ encouraged a war fever in 1898 by blaming the sinking of the USS Maine on the Spanish, even though the Navy’s own expert said it was caused by an accidental explosion. The George W. Bush administration justified the invasion of Iraq by claiming that Saddam Hussein had connections to the 9/11 attacks and was building weapons of mass destruction, neither of which turned out to be true. But with the Iran war, as in so many other ways, Donald Trump has broken new ground. He is the first president to start a war without even bothering to lie to the public, because he simply didn’t care what the public thought.” (05/03/26)
- Reason Roundtable, 05/04/26
- Finding Freedom, 05/04/26
Source: Lions of Liberty
“The Truth About Chronic Disease with Dr. Darrell Wolfe.” (05/04/26)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/ff-the-truth-about-chronic-disease-with-dr-darrell-wolfe
- EconTalk, 05/04/26
Source: EconTalk
“Golfing Alone (with Gary Belsky).” (05/04/26)
- The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 05/04/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Gettin’ Wonky on the Unitary Executive | Interview: Charlie Cooke.” (05/04/26)
- My Video Response to Tucker Carlson on Immigration and AI
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Jacob responds to a new video commentary by the noted conservative commentator Tucker Carlson entitled ‘Trump’s Flip-Flop on Immigration Is Strange …'” (05/04/26)
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 05/03/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump Says US Will ‘Guide’ Ships Out of Hormuz Strait, US Acting ‘Like Pirates,’ and More.” (05/03/26)
- Neon Liberalism, episode 72
Source: Liberal Currents
“Samantha is joined by Matt Darling to discuss the state of the economy.” (05/03/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/measuring-the-vibecession-neon-liberalism-72-with-matt-darling/
- Pink Flame of Liberty, 05/03/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Candace Owens gets SUED AGAIN.” (05/03/26)